The book, which is called 'Comforting Words', contains a selection of poems dealing with the theme of life after death.

Mr Bruce, who lives in Banff and who has released a number of poetry volumes over the past few years, got the idea for the book after reflecting on a conversation he had with a man who had never been to a funeral.

He said: "Coming from such a large family I've been to so many funerals that I could not believe it when I spoke to one of my friends, aged 30-plus, who said he'd never been to a funeral.

"I thought, 'he hasn't been to a funeral? that's amazing'. So I sat down and put all my relevant poems that I've written over the past two years together and added a few more.

"So this book basically evolved from a collection of my thoughts and my memories of how I felt when members of my family or my friends passed away."

Mr Bruce says that he is not a regular church-goer, but he does believe in an afterlife. He hopes that people who read his book will get some comfort from his writings.

He said: "If you're reading this book in your time of loss I sincerely hope that some of the words in the book bring you some comfort. When a loved one dies it's often a time when we have so much to say but we aren't always in the right frame of mind to express what we really feel.

"I believe in life after death. And that's what the book's all about. If you can believe there's a life after death it might make life a bit easier."

Titles of poems include 'Heaven's Golden Shore', 'See the Light' and 'Live Forever', the latter of which reads: "Don't fear death, just look it straight in the eye, death comes to us all, but we don't really die; Our bodies may be dead, but our souls live forever, our souls can never die, they live whatever."

Mr Bruce, who works as a marine surveyor, has published several books as both the Bard of the Broch, the Bard o' Buchan and the Bard o' Banff.

He also recently had great success with a calendar, decorated with other poems and photographs, that he produced for Fraser-burgh, which sold 150 copies in the space of just 10 days.

The poetry collection, which has approximately 50 poems, is now available in Banff book shop Chapter and Verse on Low Street, at a cost of £3.99.